


Just One

by Blood_Red_Lion



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Kissing, M/M, PINING KEITH, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 07, Prompt Fic, kiss prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 23:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17031573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blood_Red_Lion/pseuds/Blood_Red_Lion
Summary: A couple kiss prompts from my tumblr you guys seemed to like.Prompts are "Desperately" and "As an Apology"A- Keith's POV, he knows Lance and Allura are together but he can't help but do something... a little reckless.B- Lance's POV, Keith has disappeared and Lance is furious, who the hell does he think he is leaving without telling anyone!? Misunderstandings ensue.





	1. Desperately

“I am _so_ tired of not being _yours_!”

It takes Lance entirely by surprise and Keith isn’t sure if that’s a good thing or not. Isn’t sure why he even spoke.

For fucks sake, Allura _just_ left.

SURE. Okay. Keith probably should have gotten the picture. Lance and Allura... clearly... got closer while he was gone.

He saw it when he called the castle of lions after grabbing Shiro. He saw it when they leaned against each other while floating in space. He heard it in her voice when she called for him and saw it on his face when they smiled at each other—

But he couldn’t shake the feeling.

He couldn’t just pretend that he hadn’t—

That Lance hadn’t...!

...felt something _real_. All those times.

He was sure he hadn’t made it all up. How it felt to hold Lance’s hand, how he smiled at him and filled his chest with butterflies, how Lance would be just a little extra attentive, just let their fingers graze each other as they walked a little more often than was necessary.

Keith didn’t just imagine it all. He and Lance—they’d had _something_.

But.

But Lance was with her now.

He was with her and it was over. He’d always loved Allura more. He’d always _wanted_ Allura in a way he’d never wanted Keith. That’s why he’d worked so hard to kill these stupid feelings since coming back, to make sure Lance knew he wasn’t going to get in the way of that. Lance had made his choice. Allura had _clearly_ reciprocated that choice. They were the star-crossed lovers of this ridiculous adventure they’d all embarked on together and now they were the ones who were going to make it together and Keith—

Keith was so tired of all of it.

Because Lance hadn’t stopped. He hadn’t stopped for a second. The looks. The careful words. The easy touches that burned against his skin for hours, days… Hell, Keith could still feel the hand on his shoulder from years ago, the first time Lance had squeezed and told him he would back him up no matter what.

Lance—Lance was just being good to him. He was being a friend. Kind. Supportive.

Keith had read it all wrong. All wrong—

_“He’s the future.”_

Did he?

“I—I…”

“What are you talking about…Keith?” Lance’s eyes bore through him, make him weak on the inside. His fight or flight instincts were screaming to let them take over but all Keith could see was Lance, all he could feel was Lance’s eyes on him, his hand—

His hand.

Holding his.

He had reached out to grab his clenched fist right up off the table the three of them had been occupying together, playing cards in their downtime. Funny, this stupid simple moment of weakness brought on after weeks of this monotony. Of watching them together. Of being free and feeling safe to want to curl up in someone’s arms and realize that someone, that one person…

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Lance. Forget I said anything.”

Lance’s fingers squeeze his fist, he pushes so hard his fingertips made it between Keith’s and his palm.

“No.” He says firmly. With an authority that made Keith’s head spin.

And yet he still manages to try and argue, “Lance—I—”

“No,” He says again, “Tell me.”

Keith feels his stomach twist and his face gets hot and Flight is screaming at him to turn and run. Fight wanted him to lie. Take it back. Tell Lance he meant nothing to him. It was so easy. So so easy to listen to these instincts.

But he hated that.

He hated that because what if—what if that was what cost him the right to look into those eyes and feel so wholly loved? What if his stupid instinct to run away or to yell… what if they cost him Lance?

He stumbles for words, something sensible and not out of anger but he can’t find any. His tongue is heavy and his mind is shutting down.

Damn his stupid reckless mouth for taking advantage of these rare moments alone with the blue paladin. Damn his stupid reckless mouth for saying things he had no fucking reason to say. Damn his stupid fucking reckless ass mouth for how it was clearly making an even bigger mess of far more important and stupider parts of him.

Keith genuinely didn’t know how his poor heart still functioned and managed to get itself into the kinds of situations that got it shattered so goddamn often.

And yet Lance’s hand is still over his. His eyes are still on him. His face—his face is so close.

So close.

Keith feels his heart beat strong, this miserably heavy throb in his ribcage. Terrified. Excited. Hopeful.

Maybe.

Just once.

Just one time.

Then he could get over him. Keith could let Lance go. If he just.

If he could kiss him just this one time.

His free hand finds Lance’s cheek. It slides up along his jaw, one finger beneath his earlobe as the others settle into soft brown hair.

He watches Lance’s lips fall open, probably in shock. Probably to tell him to stop. But Keith needs this. He needs this, so he can try to stop hating every fucking moment they’re together. He needs this, so he can know for sure if any of it was real, if he’d really been the one to mess it all up or if there’s never been anything to mess up in the first place.

Just once.

“I just want to be yours. Just for right now.” He doesn’t even register he’s said it, but his lips find Lance’s and he feels his heart fucking burst.

Worm holes expanding, ships crashing, free falling through space and having his lungs crushed under foot of a nameless soldier.

It feels so good, to finally be this close to him, to feel this softness against his lips and his palm. His finger tips press down just so lightly into his hair and he loves it but he’s so insanely terrified.

This was a mistake.

Lance is going to hate him.

He’s messed up any potential for a friendship he could have ever had with Lance all for a few seconds of gratification?

What does he stand to gain? Kissing Lance against his will? Proof that he’s insane and had deluded himself all these years into thinking that he might have actually meant something to him? A thousand awkward meetings where he’ll have to force himself to stand as far away as possible, so Lance’s scowl doesn’t hurt him as badly as it no doubt will? Allura’s utter fury at his having kissed her boyfriend??

But…

But Lance isn’t pulling away.

He isn’t stopping him.

He hasn’t even released his hand.

Keith doesn’t know how but this gives him just an ounce of courage to push forward, part his lips gently, ease his heavy traitorous tongue forward just the tiniest bit. (Because, of course, if it’s to make life far worse for Keith that’s when it will work the way he wants it to.)

But that’s when it all stops.

 

These thoughts, crashing into a wall and disintegrating on impact.

 

This wall is Lance’s chest as he pushes out of his chair and slips a hand into Keith’s hair, pulling him in.

Lance is the one who deepens the kiss, his tongue willfully entering Keith’s mouth and pressing as deeply into him as he can, holding Keith close. The pleased hum coming out of his throat makes Keith dizzy and the supernovas bursting behind his eyes at this miraculous turn of events are burning down his chest and filling him with so much warmth he’s at a complete loss for what to do.

Lance, despite being the one to take the kiss so much further than intended, still manages to proceed somewhat carefully. His fingers are deep in Keith’s hair but they don’t pull. Keith feels rather than hears him chuckle but it’s such a small motion Keith isn’t even sure it happened. He moves slowly against Keith’s mouth, almost like he’s edging the tension out of him, before finally allowing Keith the right to breathe again and smiling.

And that smile does things to Keith he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say in the slightest.

 

But not to worry, Keith is a master of shoving his foot in his mouth so before Lance can tell Keith why he’s smiling Keith has managed to crush the mood with a single uttered word.

A name, rather.

“…Allura?”

Lance stares, expression falling, “…No… _Lance_.”

Keith feels his heart drop into his gut, “No—No I meant—you and Allura. Aren’t you…?”

“What?”

“…Together…?”

Lance is silent for a long moment though his face tells Keith absolutely nothing.

Keith looks down, suddenly painfully aware of the hands still in each other’s hair and the ones now intertwined against the table.

“Keith…” Lance starts finally, “Allura and I are just friends. We… came to terms with that a while ago.”

Keith knows his eyes are giving away his shock, but he can’t bring himself to look up.

“Besides I always kind of…” Lance pushes again, using the hand behind Keith’s head to try and nudge him into facing him, “Had some mixed feelings about someone else… Kinda wanted to see how that would go.”

When Keith catches Lance’s eyes he’s sure Lance can see right through him. He’s sure he can see the hope and the desperation in his gaze and how desperately he just _wants…!_

“I’m… I guess I’m a little tired of not being yours too. We should hurry up and fix that, yeah?”

Keith can feel Lance’s fingers twisting around locks of hair as he tentatively worries his lip waiting for Keith’s response.

Because he still needs Keith to say it.

Because the boy Keith fell for is just freaking _like_ that.

“…Yeah. Guess we should.”

 

 


	2. As an Apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does NOT continue after the last prompt but still set in that area between seasons 7 and 8.

This kind of fury, the kind that boils under his skin and makes him see red on the edges of his vision, is something Lance hasn’t felt in a very long time.

“You did WHAT?!”

Probably not since the last time Keith had gone on a suicide mission. Because the little idiot had apparently just come back from another one like that was no one’s business but his own when it absolutely fucking wasn’t. He had a team, a family now, an entire damn government organization that quietly relied on his continued existence. He had _utterly no business_ taking Black and disappearing to god knows where for days without telling anyone. Without even advising his fucking right-hand man he was going to drop off the face of the planet.

Right now, Keith is sitting on the counter, his feet on the stool he should be sitting on while he administers his own first aid. His trek to check out the nearby Galra bases for anyone who would come to threaten earth too soon hadn’t been too dangerous, but it had been enough he had a slice under his right eye and a few scrapes and bruises.

And seeing every single blemish as Keith had scooted his suit down over his shoulders, wincing at a few of the more tender spots, it made Lance’s vision go completely red, blotting out Keith’s armor and almost aiding in hiding some of the deeper cuts on his skin.

But not really, because Lance was furious.

“H-hey…Lance…” Keith started, awkward, surprised. As if he hadn’t thought anyone would find him this late at night coming home to the Garrison, “I did… uh… what did I do?”

Of course, Keith hadn’t thought about those sharp eyes narrowing the moment he’d found out Keith wasn’t on earth. Hadn’t considered how closely Lance would be watching for Black in the stars. Hadn’t even fathomed that maybe Lance hadn’t actually slept since realizing the black paladin had disappeared.

He never wondered about Lance charging over to Red to back him up, how garrison officials had needed to hold him back, tell him all the reasons he couldn’t just charge over to the black lion’s signal without knowing what he was getting into. How he could have potentially endangered Keith by trying to help.

It drove him fucking insane and it was everything in him not to try hijacking Green and at least attempt—

No. No, the point is. Keith had no idea what he’d just put Lance through and now that Lance finally knew what he’d been doing, what dangerous activities he’d felt the bloody need to do all by himself?! No.

“Hey?? Lance??? Don’t “ _hey Lance_ ” me, mister!” Lance growls through grit teeth, storming over with those long strides of his that has him across the hangar and in Keith’s face in seconds. He snatches the antiseptic cream from Keith’s hands and almost casually spreads his legs to stand between them. He tilts Keith’s head up and inspects the slice under his eye.

Keith blinks at him, his violet eyes bright and comically confused in a way that reminds Lance of an unscarred cheek and a red crop jacket.

Reminds him of a soft hand, a warm smile, back to back bayards in hand…

Lance shakes his head. No, none of that, this is _angry_ time, not butterfly time.

“Dumbass,” Lance grunts under his breath, releasing Keith’s chin and spreading some of the clear cream on his fingertips.

Keith’s eyebrows arch together, “I’m sorry?”

“Yeah you better be.” Lance growls again, knowing that wasn’t what Keith meant. He accepts it as the best that can be attained right now anyway.

Keith doesn’t like it and tilts his head away when Lance moves to spread the cream over his cut.

“No, dude, what’s your problem?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah? I mean— I just got back, I’ve literally been here for a whole 20 ticks and you’re already pissed at me??”

Lance drops the ointment onto the table next to Keith’s thighs to keep from squeezing, popping the bottle and spilling all its contents over the both of them, and instead leans forward.

In this position he wishes he could say he looms over Keith, but the red Paladin leans back and manages to still look taller than him. The only thing Lance has going for him is that Keith is quickly getting pink in the face and Lance is steadfast.

“Who the fuck told you you could just up and leave? Huh? Who? I really wanna know.”

Keith’s brows scrunched up in confusion instead of irritation again.

“I genuinely want to understand,” Lance continues, feeling his jaw click angrily, “Why you decided to leave without freaking _telling me_!”

Keith turns his head away and it’s everything in Lance not to wrench him back over by the chin.

His confusion is melting away to something deeper. Soft. Scared. Something that spoke of intentions Keith maybe wasn’t ready to discuss.

Lance sucked in air through his grit teeth and tried to lower his voice to match, “You could have gotten hurt or–”

“I didn’t think I had to tell you.”

Keith’s voice is small, and it makes Lance feel even smaller.

“…What?”

Keith swallows over a lump in his throat and keeps his eyes trained on something far away, “I didn’t think I had to tell you. What did it matter? You were– you–”

This time Lance interrupted and when he spoke he wasn’t even sure what he was saying, “Do I mean that little to you?”

“What–”

Lance pulled back, glancing down at Keith’s parted legs as he started to realize just how close they’d been, “I’m your right hand but I guess that doesn’t matter right? Go off to Shiro because he’s the only one you care about, right? Lance is nothing Lance is just the substitute, the place holder until you get back, right?? Hell, all I’ve done for the last few years is fill your shoes; I’m literally nothing, I’m a shadow of you so—yeah, okay, that makes sense, why _would_ you check in with me? It doesn’t fucking matter at all, it…”

Lance feels his fingers twitching and his chest aching and the sting in his eyes.

This is stupid. There was nothing to get worked up over. There was nothing…

He was nothing…

“Lance…” Keith is slow but facing him again, eyes wide like he was about to work on diffusing a bomb. Maybe he was. Maybe he just had to pacify his shadow.

“No, you know what? Forget it.” Lance rubs his palms together for the sake of something to do with them but also to help run the buildup of ointment away.

“Lance none of that is true–”

“I’m fucking sorry I was worried about you.”

“Lance wait–”

The blue paladin, convenient stand in for Keith Kogane, shakes his head and takes a step back before turning, ready to storm out just the way he’d come.

But Keith doesn’t like that either. He reaches out and snatches the end of Lance’s coat. The momentum nearly pitched him forward into the other paladin completely, but Keith managed to plant his feet on the ground and lean back just hard enough that instead he pulled Lance right back into him.

It wasn’t exactly what he was going for but as he felt the muscles tense in Lance’s back as the other boy readied to spring, he quickly wrapped his arms around him and held him there, back against his chest.

“W-what– let me go.”

“No.” Keith defiantly leans his chin over Lance’s shoulder and bumps his head, “Stop… all of that, just stop that okay?”

Lance seems to tremble beneath him and Keith probably couldn’t be sure if that was anger or what, but he didn’t seem likely to let him go if these were the kinds of thoughts his fellow paladin was having.

“Let me go Keith…” Lance growls.

Keith shakes his head, the side of his face rubbing against Lance’s neck and cheek. Lance raises his chin almost as if he’s trying to get away, but it only results in giving Keith more room.

“Lance, I didn’t mean it like that… I just meant with you and Allura… I didn’t want my restlessness to get in the way of that if you decided to come with me.” He mumbles it against Lance’s skin and Lance feels both light and pleased and heavy and confused all at once.

“I…what…?”

Keith raises his head and uses his grip on Lance to turn him around so they’re facing each other, “I had to find something to occupy myself with and I just couldn’t…”

Thanks to the open flight suit Lance can see how Keith’s flush extends down his neck and at least over the very top of his chest. The vision makes him dizzy.

“Keith, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“…It’s okay. I’m sorry, I’m just tired.” He glances down at the ground and Lance notices then that his hands are still on his hips, holding him there as close as possible and yet…

“We need to talk about what you said though, Lance, you are _so important–_ ”

“Do you think I’m with Allura?”

Keith blinks. Lance blinks. Sure, he could let Keith try to pacify all his insecurities in the middle of the night with his hands on his hips and that blush extending down down down OR—or they could absolutely not do that, and Lance could instead choose the route that explains more and attacks him slightly less.

Well, wiping out with the princess once upon a time would have hurt him far more but…well. It’s… been a long time since she’s held all his attentions. Honestly, she probably never had.

She was beautiful and smart and brave and kind… but so were a lot of people. Plenty of fish in the sea.

Or maybe just one in particular.

“I’m not…I’m not with Allura.” Lance says into the silence that stretches on between them. He has to acknowledge their proximity, has to accept where their bodies come into contact with each other, has to realize that Keith’s flush isn’t from exertion but something else and…

“You’re not…” Keith mumbles brilliantly.

“No.”

“I really thought.”

“Yeah well. Maybe in another universe.”

“Right…I’m uh…sorry?”

“Don’t be, I’m not.”

“You’re not?”

“No.”

Keith stares for a long moment causing Lance to avert his eyes. His fingers tap along Lance’s waist and they send little vibrations through his nerves. Keith is going to wonder why he hasn’t pulled away yet.

He’s going to wonder why he’s letting him so close.

_“We are a good team…”_

“I uh… should–” Lance tries to make his escape, but Keith’s fingers stop thrumming and he tilts his head and his eyes lid with uncertainty in a way that silences Lance almost immediately.

His lips part on a stuttered little breath as if he isn’t sure if he should say what he wants to say, and the tension seems to seep out of him and right into Lance from his fingertips. But Lance is Lance, and he is what everyone needs him to be when they need him to be, so he takes a deep breath and leans forward, “What…? What is it?”

Keith’s eyes look a little glossy, like he’s trying to detach himself from the moment though his hands hold Lance tightly as if they’re afraid they’ll lose him somehow.

“…D-does that mean…uh… do I…is there a chance… for us?” As soon as the words leave him Keith releases his hold and hunches his shoulders as if he can try and hide behind them somehow.

Lance’s heart beats loudly in his chest.

“I-…I’m sorry?”

Keith makes a small unpleasant noise and shuts his eyes tightly, nodding quickly, “Right-right okay then let’s just pretend this never–”

Lance panics, “No! No, that’s not what I—No hold on. Keith—Keith I was fucking furious with you, how did you do this, how did you spin this around like this, I’m–”

Keith opens his eyes just enough to try and glance around Lance to plot an escape route, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, okay? I get it you don’t like guys, or you don’t like me, it’s fine, it was stupid, I was being stupid, so I’ll just go–”

“Oh my GOD.” Lance reaches out and grabs Keith’s bare shoulders, the skin on skin contact causes his heart to jump in a way that was extremely terrifying, but he doesn’t let go, “I do like guys, hell I like _you!_ Oh my god, _oh my god_ oh my god, Keith I was so fucking worried about you because I’ve basically been in love with you for years and it was literally—literally like you just took my fucking heart, travelled across a solar system and dropped it in a pit of wolves because that is literally what you did with yourself and I can’t– I cannot believe you just _did this to me_ right now.”

Keith’s frozen mid motion to lift his legs up over the table and bolt away from Lance while he speaks. Lance could almost find it funny if he wasn’t terrified and wishing he could just stop talking. Wishing he hadn’t said exactly what he just said.

He could barely admit it to himself and now he was telling Keith–

Telling Keith he loved him.

Oh, Jesus Mary and Joseph, he did not just say the big L word.

Lance pulls his hands back and covers his mouth to try and stop himself, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so so so sorry…”

Keith slowly rights himself and his eyes find Lance’s and they practically _shine_ and it’s making Lance’s heart do aerobics which it really shouldn’t be doing because uhhh it’s physically painful this is all physically painful–

“…I’m not.” Keith mumbles out, so low Lance almost doesn’t hear it. It does suffice in stopping his incessant apologies though, because Keith is speaking, and he needs to be able to hear him. God he’s dug himself such a deep hole right now Keith should just run, run from the crazy clingy boy who says love before they’ve even kissed who–

Keith is taking his hands and pulling them away from his face. He’s leaning toward him; his eyes are darting down to his lips and Lance can feel his entire body burning.

“I’m really… really not…” Keith’s lips are so close they feather over Lance’s as he speaks but Lance doesn’t move. Doesn’t understand. He kind of just… ceases to function.

“I am sorry to have worried you though… can I make it up to you?”

He’s sure Keith can hear his heart beat. Sure, of it. Positive. No way he can’t–

“Please?”

Lance’s nod is miniscule, imperceptive, except it brushes their lips together just a smidgen and it makes Keith smile so wide Lance feels like his chest might actually explode with that thing just hammering away in there. But he doesn’t have the time to worry about it because Keith pushes in and suddenly, they’re kissing.

They’re kissing, he is kissing Keith, Keith is kissing him, there is actual soft pleasant pressure on his lips from another physical human being and that human is Keith friggen Kogane–! God bless.

He reflexively pushes his hands into Keith’s hair, fingers wrapping themselves in silky black locks as he wills Keith to understand how badly he needs this, how much he’s wanted this, how long he’s told himself he couldn’t, all built in to the slide of their lips. Keith on the other hand can’t stop smiling, Lance can feel it against his cheeks. That is, until Keith parts his lips and his tongue peeks out and oh holy mother of god there will be _tongues?_

They find each other, they meld together, Lance feels euphoric because that’s the only word for it. Keith melts in his arms and he wraps his legs around Lance’s waist and leans back so far he might actually be laying on the table with Lance hovering over him by the time he finally lets Lance up to breathe.

And to Lance’s credit he does try to dive right back in, eyes lidded and heart so full he can’t stand the sudden distance one tiny bit.

But Keith smiles. And it’s soft and warm and _god_ …!

“I’d love to keep going…Quiznak, I really… really want to but…” he raises his head a bit favoring one side and Lance notices the cut once more, bleeding again from all the stimulation of Keith’s face, “It hurts… I _can_ ignore it, but I also don’t want to bleed on you or anything…”

Lance makes a confusing sound, something he’s certainly never heard before, and forces himself to stand upright, “Yeah. Fine. Of course. Let’s just… patch you right up…”

“Did you accept my apology though…?” Keith interjects with a chuckle as he sits up too. He looks happy. He looks so happy it’s literally killing Lance to be so close to this utter _angel_.

Lance retrieves the ointment that thankfully didn’t wander off anywhere, “Right. Just. Yeah. Yeah apology accepted. Never do it again.”

Keith makes a face that is heavily amused and a little skeptical.

Lance croaks, “I mean—I mean the running off on your own thing! Not the kissing thing. Kiss me all you want. All the time. We should kiss all the time. God please kiss me _all_ the time.”

Lance watches Keith’s (now personally familiar) little pink tongue brush out against his top lip for a split second as he huffs a little response of “Gladly” with a flick of his hair and that incessant smile and he has to force himself not to respond to _that_ feeling as it spreads and starts to encompass him.

It practically boils under his skin, the need to touch, the need to kiss, the need to never leave Keith’s side. He sees pink around the edges of his vision, maybe a form of the dreaded rose-tinted glasses but he knows in his heart it’s not the same. This is more than that. More genuine than that.

He hopes this feeling lasts a long, long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having just re-read this to post I am now cackling to myself by something Lance does here, I swear to GOD I wrote this BEFORE the drop, ohhhh my god.  
> Lmao.

**Author's Note:**

> Catch me on tumblr @Blood-Red-Lion <3


End file.
